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Common Core message: You don't need to know, House says

EDITORIAL

The New Hampshire House of Representatives sent a strong message to parents on Wednesday: Obey your educational superiors and don't ask any questions.

Four bills dealing directly with the Common Core educational standards were before the House on Wednesday. The House either defeated or sent to interim study all five of them — even ones to simply study the standards.

House Bill 1239 would have directed the state to study the costs of implementing Common Core standards. It would have allowed current standards to remain in place, but would have prevented the state from imposing any new ones before the study's completion. It was defeated 182-124.

House Bill 1262 would have forbidden the state from sharing any "personally identifiable data" on students with the federal government or a for-profit company. The House voted 203-117 to hold the bill for further study.

House Bill 1432 as amended would halted Common Core testing after 2016 until the state completed a study of whether the tests were effective. Current testing could continue while the state conducted the study. It was defeated 183-150.

House Bill 1496 would have barred school districts from administering any tests that are not shown to be valid or appropriate, or which cannot be objectively scored. The House voted 210-123 to hold it for further study.

All of these bills were crafted to provide more information about Common Core and its mandatory test. Although the standards contain questionable materials, and the rigor of the standards and the tests remains unknown, a majority of the Democratic-led House decided this week that parents simply did not need to know anything else about them now. The message is clear: Obey the "experts," don't ask questions, and really, please, just go away.